Total Results Blog

People often hear that a Total Results workout usually lasts about twenty minutes and think that it is simple or easy. I don't know if simple is the right word, but we certainly don't want to overcomplicate things. Easy? Definitely not! On the other hand, some folks who are steeped in more traditional (outdated) thinking swear that you cannot accomplish anything meaningful in only twenty minutes. These are individuals who believe that if some is good, more is better. If that is the case, why limit the amount of time you spend exercising? This is where the volume training approach falls woefully short from a physiological perspective. Don't judge the philosophy simply based on the amount of time spent exercising. Sure, less than one hour per week is a relatively small time investment, but it is important to look beneath the surface in order to understand what really takes place.

The main objective of high-intensity exercise is to stimulate a growth mechanism. The intensity of effort must be significant enough for the body to interpret what is happening as an existential threat to its existence. Bear in mind that you are not actually in any danger, but the eventual occurrence of momentary muscular failure causes the body to cross over a threshold that stimulates a growth mechanism. This is what sets the table for physical improvements to take place. By reaching muscular failure, we have assured ourselves that we have done everything possible to send a strong message to the body. If we eat, hydrate, and rest properly between workouts, then the body will respond to this stimulus by building muscle, improving bone mineral density, strengthening connective tissue, maintaining insulin sensitivity, and enhancing metabolic and cardiovascular conditioning.

Over the years, potential clients have contacted us to ask about our program, and when they learn that our workouts last twenty minutes their first instinct is that it is due to convenience, or that it is something that we can "just get away with." Neither of these viewpoints is correct; a twenty minute workout is actually a biological necessity! We perform twenty minute workouts for numerous reasons. First, there is an inverse relationship between intensity of effort and time spent exercising. The more efficiently and deeply you inroad (fatigue) your skeletal muscle, the less time you can actually spend working out. You can sprint, or you can run a marathon, but you cannot sprint a marathon. Second, exercise has a narrow therapeutic window; this means that there is a small margin between too much exercise and not enough. Too little exercise does not adequately stimulate positive change, and overdoing it can lead to illness and/or injury. We want to optimize the dose/response relationship, in much the same way that doctors prescribe (or should prescribe) medication. It is important to perform as little exercise as necessary to stimulate physical improvements without overtaxing the body along the way. This brings me to my third point: recovery resources are finite. It is much easier to overtrain than you think, even if you are relatively young and healthy. If you are using proper form, pushing to and beyond muscular failure, and moving briskly between exercises, you will largely deplete your glycogen (stored carbohydrate in the muscles and liver) stores by the end of your session. Replenishment of glycogen and muscle tissue repair typically require a minimum of a few days, and that is assuming that you aren't performing any other vigorous activity in addition to your Total Results workouts. We keep a detailed record of every workout, and if we notice that your performance is leveling off or going backward, it is probably wise to reduce your training frequency, volume, or both. Many of our longer tenured clients only exercise once a week, and that is their optimal training frequency based on recovery factors.

Another factor to consider is the release of cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone produced by your adrenal glands that reduces inflammation, regulates your sleep-wake cycle, manages blood sugar levels, and regulates the body's 'fight-or-flight" response. Longer workouts trigger a greater release of cortisol, which can have a negative impact on performance and lead to general fatigue and overtraining. This is another reason to keep your workouts brief, intense, and infrequent. Finally, shorter workouts enable you to more effectively maintain your focus. A Total Results session requires tremendous concentration, not only to achieve the best possible stimulus, but also to maximize your safety. It is much easier to laser in your focus and be in the correct mental state for twenty minutes than for an hour or more. This gives you the best possible chance for success.

Everything that we do has a purpose, from the selection and sequence of exercises, to the studio environment and temperature controls. This whole experience is far more than what it appears to be on the surface. Don't believe in the oversimplification of what others are putting forth. Start reaping the benefits of high-intensity Total Results workouts today. It will be the best twenty minutes you have ever invested.

As a high school football coach, I am required to complete a Concussions in Sports course once per year. Concussions can occur in soccer, basketball, and even field hockey, but football generally garners the highest amount of attention. The way that we teach tackling at the youth and high school level (keeping the tackler's head behind and away from contact) has actually made the game safer than ever, but with any collision sport you can never completely eliminate the risk of concussions. According to the Centers for Disease Control, "A concussion is a mild type of traumatic brain injury-TBI-caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth."

Symptoms of a concussion can include headache, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, nausea, disorientation, and dizziness. Depending on the severity of the injury (and if you have sustained previous injuries), these symptoms can last from a few days or weeks to several months. Hockey fans will likely remember that Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby once missed several months of a season as he struggled to recover from one of many concussions he has sustained over his career. The Virginia High School League, the governing body of high school sports in our state, has strict guidelines that coaches must follow if an athlete is suspected of sustaining a concussion. These include immediate removal from a practice or game, a same-day evaluation by a medical professional, and rest until they are symptom-free. Following that, there is a "Return to Play" protocol that must be followed. In sequential order, the athlete must perform light aerobic activity, sport-specific exercise, non-contact drills, full contact practice, and if they remain symptom-free they may resume full activity. If concussion symptoms return at any point, they must drop back to the last stage in which they were symptom-free. In my experience, having knowledgeable coaches working with seasoned athletic trainers on sight has made a huge difference. In 2024, my second year at Dominion High School, we sustained no concussions on our freshman team. I attribute that to these guidelines, but also because we limited full-contact (tackling to the ground) tackling drills in practice.

What do concussions have to do with high intensity exercise? You are certainly less likely to experience a concussion if you don't participate in a collision sport, but concussions can occur in everyday life as a result of car accidents, falls, or physical assaults. I currently work with two clients who have sustained concussions during their tenure at Total Results, though neither occurred during the course of a workout. Both clients were in their early 50s, one a male and one a female. Each of these trainees had worked with us for a number of years when they sustained the injury, and fortunately they were very well-conditioned.

How do we handle concussions at Total Results? If you suspect that you have sustained a concussion, we strongly encourage you to be evaluated by a medical professional. Should the diagnosis be confirmed, you should avoid weight training workouts until you are symptom-free. We are more than happy to touch base with your medical provider to gain insight and learn of any restrictions that they suggest. Once you are able to resume exercise, we will start with greatly reduced weights, mild to moderate intensity, and a fixed number of repetitions or time under load. We are not training to muscular failure; we simply want to make sure that you can complete the workout without experiencing a recurrence of symptoms. Neck exercises will be avoided for the first few workouts to avoid any pressing on the head. The instructor will assess on an ongoing basis and the client will provide feedback following each workout. It is important to note how you feel in the day or two after the workout; sometimes symptoms don't recur right away. We will slowly work up to a higher level of effort over the course of a few weeks until you are able to exercise at full intensity with no problems. Each case is different; people heal at different paces, so we must individualize the workout.

A concussion is a head injury; treatment should be taken very seriously. These injuries can vary in severity, which is why you should get checked out if you sustain a blow to the head. If you have previously suffered a concussion you are more susceptible to another injury, so it is important to know the warning signs. If you should happen to suffer from a concussion, please communicate to us so that we can take the appropriate steps to ensure your safety. We are on your side!

Total Results clients will occasionally remark during or after the Seated Leg Curl exercise that they feel a cramp or a "charley horse" in either their hamstring or calf muscle. Many times, what they are experiencing is not really a cramp at all, but rather exertional discomfort as a result of performing intense exercise. Novice trainees are often not accustomed to the burning sensation that is a byproduct of muscular inroad, and their tolerance for this discomfort will increase over time. If you are, in fact, truly experiencing a muscle cramp, it can be remedied relatively quickly. The best strategy is to avoid them altogether, and I will discuss the nature of how muscle cramps are presented, methods for treatment, and ways that they can be prevented.

A "charley horse" is simply a colloquial term for a muscle cramp. This is a sudden, painful, spasm that is commonly caused by fatigue, dehydration, or low electrolyte levels. It can be exacerbated with prolonged exposure to physical activity in heat and humidity, but some folks experience them in bed at night. Although the onset of a muscle cramp may seem to come from out of nowhere, in reality the wheels have been in motion for quite some time before the spasm takes place. It is a lot like Ernest Hemingway's famous quote about going bankrupt, "Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly." Massage and stretching can be of some help once a muscle has begun to cramp, but that is really just managing the symptoms rather than treating the underlying cause.

How can you prevent muscle cramps? The key is to plan ahead. Hydration is critically important, not just when it is hot outside, but all year. Most people say they drink plenty of water, but in reality they fall well short of what they should consume. 100 ounces is a reasonable daily goal, and since so many of us drink from a Yeti or some other type of container, it should be relatively easy to track your consumption. Do not drink simply based on thirst; if you wait until you are thirsty to drink water it is already too late. Minimize caffeine, sugary beverages and alcohol; not only do these serve as an unwelcome source of empty calories, they can also promote dehydration. Do not just drink a bunch of water right before a workout or competitive activity and think that it will be sufficient. You have to plan several days ahead. I have told my football players that if our game is on Friday, you need to start hydrating on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. One good daily strategy is to mix a pinch of Pink Himalayan sea salt into 20 ounces of water once or twice per day; this will help to stabilize your electrolyte levels. I use Pink Himalayan salt rather than regular table salt because it contains trace amounts of iron, potassium, and magnesium.

What are some other helpful strategies? Eating a proper diet with plenty of protein, healthy saturated fats, fruits, vegetables, and supplementing when necessary will ensure that you have all the trace elements that your body needs. When I coached football at Dominion High School, our head athletic trainer was Rickie Atkins, a former member of the Marine Corps, National Guard, and combat medic. He had a sure-fire mixture that he said never failed to prevent cramps: Gatorade, pickle juice, and a spoonful of mustard. If this was consumed the night before a football game or track meet, it worked every time. Gatorade contains water, carbohydrates, potassium, and sodium, and a weaker mixture (with more water) is absorbed faster by the body. In this instance, the sugar in Gatorade is of benefit because it provides an immediate energy source. Pickle juice also contains sodium; eight ounces contains 821 mg of sodium, which aids in recovery. In addition to containing sodium and potassium, mustard tricks your nervous system by interrupting the hyperactive nerve firing that causes cramping to occur. If you are in a pinch and begin to cramp, mustard will relieve the cramp fairly quickly - Rickie used to keep mustard packets in his medical bag. If you perform exertional outdoor activity, drink water liberally before, during, and after this activity. Please also remember that cramping can occur in cooler weather as well; we just have a tendency to be less thirsty when it is cooler outside. Do not wait until you are thirsty to drink water.

There is very little chance of experiencing dehydration or muscle cramps during a Total Results workout. Our workouts are brief, so there is a low volume of exercise being performed. Since the workout space is properly cooled, well-ventilated, and low humidity, clients rarely sweat enough to deplete their levels of sodium or potassium. Trainees can give themselves the best possible chance for success by dressing cool for their workout (shorts/t-shirts) to allow for proper heat dissipation, hydrating properly in the few days prior to their session, and recognizing the difference between exertional discomfort and muscle cramping.

Muscle cramps can be painful and momentarily debilitating, but in the end they are very minor. They are also quite preventable. You can get ahead of the curve by utilizing the strategies listed above, and if you plan to pursue outdoor activities give yourself plenty of time for your body to acclimate to heat. Stay hydrated and avoid cramps!

You do not need to be a genetic marvel to experience life-changing physical improvements from Total Results exercise. Most of our clients are regular folks who simply want to become the best and healthiest versions of themselves. With our guidance, they learn the basic physiological principles of high-intensity exercise, master proper form and speed of movement, increase their tolerance for exertional discomfort, and acquire the ability to train with great effort. If everything goes right, clients will grow mentally stronger in addition to gaining physical strength and endurance. Many have asked the question: how much of it is mental and how much is physical?

Success is dependent on several factors. There are a few "non-negotiables" that, in my opinion, you either have or you do not. These non-negotiables can be influenced by your instructor, to a point, but in reality they need to already be present. It all starts with attitude; a positive attitude can achieve great things, but a negative attitude will doom you from the start. Do you look forward to each workout as an opportunity to improve, or are you dreading coming in for your session? Only you know what is truly in your heart. The second factor is a willingness to learn. For over 90 percent of our clients, the Total Results exercise philosophy runs counter to everything they think they know or have heard about physical training. Therefore, it is a new concept to them and they should approach it as a learner and a beginner. Unless a new Total Results client has previously worked with an instructor that I know and can vouch for their qualifications (Case in point: years ago I had a client who moved to the DC area from Orlando and had trained regularly with Ken Hutchins. I knew then that I could skip ahead a few chapters.), I will treat them as if they are a beginner. The third factor is coachability. We can define coachability as, "the willingness and ability to seek, receive, and act upon constructive feedback to improve your performance." I will take it a step further and say that being coachable entails receiving instruction and executing it to the best of your ability the first time you are asked. Part of an instructor's job is to be critical and correct mistakes as they happen, while at the same time praising effort and recognizing proper execution. Please remember that all of this is done not to injure feelings, but to ensure the best possible performance and outcome.

There are some factors that are trainable and can be developed over time. Focus can be defined as the ability to concentrate on one task at a time. This is a critical component of our philosophy, and it is why we have designed a private and distraction-free exercise environment in our studio. Focus is required not just to ensure the highest quality exercise stimulus (the main purpose of the workout), but also to maintain client safety. It is important to shut everything else out for 20 minutes and devote your complete attention to your workout. Grit is a term made popular by psychologist and author Angela Duckworth in her 2016 book of the same name. Duckworth believes that grit has four psychological assets:

• Interest: A deep passion and genuine enjoyment for what you do.

• Practice: The relentless dedication to deliberate practice, consistently focusing on improvement and and working on weaknesses

• Purpose: The belief that your work is profoundly meaningful and contributes to the well-being of others.

• Hope: A rising-to-the-occasion perseverance; the optimistic belief that you can overcome challenges and that your effort will make a difference.

At Total Results, grit can entail not quitting in spite of feeling significant exertional discomfort, overcoming the psychological hurdle of reaching muscular failure and not being able to move the movement arm, but also showing up for each session even if your progress has slowed or life presents challenges. Will you take responsibility or make excuses? Finally, we can talk about desire. Some may debate as to whether this can be developed or not, but I believe it can. How important is it to you to make physical improvements? This is hard; are you willing to do what it takes? Some sacrifices will be involved; every time you say yes to something that means you have to say no to something else. You have an early morning workout tomorrow; saying yes to going to bed early means you're saying no to staying up late to binge-watch that Netflix series. In my opinion, desire can grow as soon as you start to experience some tangible progress, but remember that there will be obstacles in your path.

One cannot completely discount certain genetic factors that will impact training results. We can define neurological efficiency as the percentage of muscle fibers that can be recruited in an all-out effort, and the number typically falls between ten and forty percent. This is largely pre-determined by birth, and the more neurologically efficient you are the deeper you can inroad (fatigue) your muscles in a given exercise. Limb length is fairly self-explanatory, but it has an impact on leverage and what your range of motion is on certain exercises. Tendon insertion angle is the exact degree at which muscle fibers attach to a tendon or where a tendon attaches to a bone. Longer muscle bellies (the contractile area between tendons) generally mean a greater potential capacity for strength. Finally, fiber type makeup can be described as the different types of muscle fibers that make up your skeletal muscle. For simplicity, you have Type I fibers (which are slow twitch), Type IIA fibers (which are fast-twitch oxidative), and Type IIB fibers (which are fast-twitch-glycolytic). Type I fibers are largely for endurance activities, Type IIA are intermediate, and Type IIB fibers are for explosive and short-term physical feats (think sprinters and football linebackers). Type IIB fibers also have the greatest potential for growth, while Type 1 fibers do not. The only way to concretely learn your fiber type makeup is to have a muscle biopsy performed; most people aren't all THAT curious. You have no control over your fiber type makeup; you can either thank or scold your parents for that, depending on your preference. The best thing you can do is to make yourself as strong as is humanly possible and maximize your genetic blueprint.

This brings us back to our original question: how much of it is mental and how much of it is physical? I think it is impossible to give an exact percentage of each, but suffice to say that we are training your mind as well as your body. Clients would do well to focus on improving the things that are within their control and not spend time and energy worrying about what they cannot change. Keep in mind that of the three types of muscle (skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle) in the human body, only your skeletal muscle can be contracted volitionally. Your brain controls your body's movements, but don't allow your brain to quit before your body has reached its limit! If you are strong mentally but are not physically recovered because you are overtrained, you will perform poorly. Worse yet, injury and illness are much more likely to occur. On the other hand, if you do not approach your workouts with the right mindset you will not succeed. Lastly, if you are physically rested and mentally alert, you still cannot "outrun" a bad diet. The safest conclusion that we can make is that the mental and physical components go hand in hand; they are like two sides of the same coin.

Teaching involves putting across concepts and information to another person in a manner that they can understand. There is an old saying: "If you really want to learn how to do something, teach it." Try it sometime, and you'll be amazed at how much you have to absorb and grasp before you can communicate it to someone else. I think you will also find that breaking concepts down and making them simple will produce a faster rate of absorption on the part of the person you are teaching. I gain a tremendous amount of satisfaction from both instructing exercise and coaching high school football. While the settings in which each takes place are very different, the two entities are a lot more alike than one might think. Whether you are coaching a sport or instructing high-intensity exercise, it all comes down to one's ability to be an effective teacher.

At my core, I have always considered myself a teacher. Whether I am coaching a 16 year old quarterback or instructing a 60 year old entrepreneur, at the heart of it I am building relationships. We are in the people business. It is important to connect with the person that I am working with on more than just a superficial level, and they need to know that I have their best interest at heart. I must not simply demonstrate my competence, skill, and knowledge, but also earn their trust. This means that I must do what I say I'm going to do, every time, and also acknowledge mistakes when they inevitably occur. It is also critical to communicate expectations with both client and player right at the beginning of the relationship; this way there are no surprises. I do this with clients during an initial consultation and with players at the beginning of every season. There must be a buy-in on the part of the client and player; in order for success to occur they have to want it just as much as I do. Whether you are in the exercise studio or on the football field, you must have focus; if you are distracted it will not work. All of this is explained at the beginning of the relationship.

One of my coaching mentors, Al Thomas (who won eight high school state championships as a head coach and multiple conference championships as a collegiate defensive coordinator,) was fond of saying, "It's not what you teach, it's what you emphasize." I disagree slightly with Coach Thomas; there are certain things that should be emphasized above others, but what you teach needs to be strongly rooted in the fundamentals. When I instruct exercise, the first several sessions are all about establishing a good foundation in fundamental technique, speed of movement, proper breathing, and working to keep your emotions in check as intensity of effort increases. I utilize a cadence count to help clients develop a feel for proper speed of movement in each exercise. During individual periods with quarterbacks, you will often hear me count, "1, 2, 3, and throw" as they take their drops and prepare to throw. I always emphasize the significance of making quick decisions and throwing the ball on time. The importance of repetition cannot be underestimated; in fact, my high school coach Terry Changuris often said, "Repetition, repetition, repetition!" Whether in exercise or football, teaching points must be repeated over and over before mastery can occur. Sure, saying the same things over and over can become a little monotonous (I often wonder how many times I say the phrase "breathe freely" during the course of a normal workday), but it is an essential component of teaching and learning.

As I mentioned in my last article, simple is always better. This is as true in football as it is in exercise. When I coach football, I am working with 14 to 17 year old young men whose brains are still developing. At Total Results most of our clients are adults, but nearly all of them are relative novices when it comes to high-intensity exercise. In either endeavor I am not working with experts, so I need to break things down in simple terms that are easily understood. When I first became certified as a Super Slow instructor over 20 years ago, the practical portion of the exam involved memorizing long scripts for introducing and teaching exercises to new clients. For years, I would recite these scripts verbatim as I put clients on machines for the first time. While this was useful in theory, in practice I found that trainees had a difficult time following along and their attention began to waver. Eventually, I shortened the introduction for each exercise and found that clients learned better by doing than by simply listening to me talk. Initial consultations now take less time than they used to; what once lasted nearly 90 minutes now typically takes less than one hour. It is important not to overwhelm the client with information. Yes, certain key points (like preliminary considerations) need to be explained before the sample workout can commence, but prospective clients should not feel like they will be tested on all this information at the end of the consultation. When teaching throwing mechanics to quarterbacks, I have found it effective to break the skill down into smaller components (establishing your base, stepping toward your target/separating your front hand from the football, rotating the back hip/trunk, leading with the elbow, releasing the ball, and following through) and then put them all together. Quizzing the kids on certain plays and formations, as well as occasionally having them teach a skill back to me are potent strategies to gauge learning.

I will say that an exercise studio and a football field are very different settings. As such, my presence and personality are in contrast with one another when I have a stopwatch around my neck as opposed to a whistle. When I instruct exercise I have a clinical demeanor. This is because exercise is something that should be taken very seriously, but also because I do not want to distract the client while they are in the middle of a session. A clinical demeanor also helps me to preserve energy over the course of a twelve hour workday. The nature of football is different; while I am also enthusiastic about exercise I must be a little more muted so that I do not lose proper perspective. With football I am a bit more demonstrative, and emotions play a large role in the character of the sport. Practices last no more than two hours, so it's more of a sprint than a marathon. Don't get me wrong, I take football incredibly seriously. However, at the end of the day it is supposed to be fun for both players and coaches alike. I have even found slight differences in my personality depending on what position I am coaching. I coached the offensive line for the previous three seasons, and found myself to be a little more vocal and fiery than when coaching quarterbacks. When coaching signal callers I am usually more even keeled and cerebral. Either way, all the yelling and screaming in the world is not a substitute for effective teaching.

At the end of the day, it is about teaching. No matter what you are teaching, success is dependent upon one's ability to connect, communicate, and demonstrate competence. Different people, young and old, learn in different ways, so you must be able to modify and adapt your methods based on whom you are teaching. Expectations should be mutually understood at the beginning of the relationship so that there are no surprises, and there must be a clear methodology that is in line with the desired outcomes. The teacher and student must be on the same page. As Hall of Fame coach Nick Saban famously once said, "If you're not teaching it that way, you must be allowing it to happen that way."